Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Weekend Armchair Report

How was your weekend? Did you have to work? I had a few hours of work to do, but not everyday so I got a chance to be lazy. Probably too lazy. Spending time photographing this snail demonstrates how lazy. I did have to dance out of some spider webs afterward, so that probably qualifies as exercise.

It's been pretty hot (mid- to high-90s) and very humid for about a week, so I was not inclined toward some of the outdoor activities, concerts and such. We stayed indoors in front of the TV or a book, and kept the A/C going, except for going to the Alamo Drafthouse to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I had been half-dreading that one because of the George Lucas effect -- that effect being that we loved the Star Wars Original Trilogy but were very disappointed in the second trilogy, therefore nearly spoiling the whole thing for us and creating a lump of resentment and loathing for Lucas that made me want to yell WHYYY. This movie, we thought, actually measured up to The Last Crusade and was a little better than The Temple of Doom. Noooo, nothing is going to top Raiders of the Lost Ark, but don't be afraid. Go and see it. It's fun and yes, silly too. Not a lot of thinking required. Spielberg saves the day, and the series. Harrison still has it going on at age 65, not diminished yet as an action hero, but I don’t know how many more he will go. I’m thinking that Indiana Jones could keep going for decades, like James Bond, even after Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford are gone.

On the tube -- we were kind of disappointed in the new Meerkat Manor TV-movie. We love the series, and thought this didn't measure up for several reasons. First, it has very cheesy sappy music in it that I don't think goes with it, very Hallmark card trying to over-manipulate your emotions when the subject matter can do that without much help. Second, it's not really a documentary like the series. It's about Flower and her history before the regular series kicked in. You see her from birth, there's her family and all these things are happening... but... it's not her. The filmmakers knew her history and filmed similar things to present to us as being her... so it's more of a biopic but we didn't learn that until it was over. I was naive and originally thought they were actually making the movie from old footage of Flower. Those meerkats... they all look alike, and all 100% cute, yes. Gotta love that part anyway, and the kids will like this one.

Not disappointing was Part 1 of The Andromeda Strain on A&E. Part 1 reruns tonight prime time, followed by Part 2. This is pretty darned good stuff for a TV-movie. So it's back on the sofa again tonight, chilling in the A/C. Not sure I have embraced the onslaught of summer yet.

11 comments:

Saw Indiana Jones this weekend too. All in all it wsa a fine way to spend a couple of hours, though I'd rank it third out of the four with Temple of Doom, of course, being last. I thought Harrison Ford was fine but the story was weak. While it was a good idea to bring Karen Allen back, I thought her dialog with Indy was a bit forced.

I think the analogy to Star Wars is apt. I don't think the most recent 3 movies should even be compared to the first 3. They are completely different movies made in a different time when I was a much different person. Frankly, the first 3 look a little cheesy by today's standards and the dialog was as bad as the recent 3. However, the actors had chemistry in the first ones and they were just more fun. That being said, I actually thought that Revenge of the Sith was pretty good.

Again, I don't think we can really compare the original Indy movies to the new one. It seemed like they were trying to recapture something rather than make it just stand on it's own. Still, it was a fun movie on a holidy weekend. That's my uninformed two cents!

We liked Karen Allen being back too, and wish she'd been a continuing character in the others.

Sith (Ep 3) was maybe better than Eps 1 and 2, but I've given it quite a few chances and still don't like it or the previous two. Good actors in all 3 of the new ones, but bad acting and no chemistry and little character development (I think Lucas is better getting at good performance out of a computer than a human). ;-)

Have you seen Iron Man? Looks like a good superhero summer coming up too.

I saw some DVDs: The December Boys, an Australian film which was okay; I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' film about the various personas of Bob Dylan which did not measure up to the real thing; and The Water Horse, a children's film from Scotland that I really loved.

Irene and I hiked and hiked and hiked.I bought a cheesy horror movie that I couldn't get all the way through,but it's called Rest Stop (one of our creepier songs)and I couldn't resist.We got the new Death Cab For Cutie CD which is really good.And lots of porch time/grilling out

I took an extra 2 days off from work and managed to lose 4 foot races with snails this long weekend. Hmmm... and played Simcity Societies. Not sure which was less invigorating, but at least the Sims can't actually defeat me.

Blueberry - I agree about the acting in the the most recent Star Wars films, including Sith. But the acting wasn't very good in the first three movies either. I really think that is more about Lucas' writing than the actors. Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, and Ewan McGregor didn't suddenly forget how to act. They just had lousy material. That being said, the kid in the first one (Jake Long?) was a terrible actor.

I really liked Iron Man. The pacing was very good, Robert Downey Jr. was terrific and the story was decent. If I had any complaint about it, it would be that the climactic battle scene, to me, was anticlimactic. I thought the first half or two thirds of the movie was actually better and more interesting than the last segment. It was more intriguing watching him develop the technology than using it once fully created, in my opinion. But all in all it was one of the best superhero movies I've seen in a while.